Depending on which TA unit recruits join, the minimum commitment is 19
training days per year, done in the evenings or weekends, with a two-week
annual camp. In special situations you could be mobilised to serve overseas.

Here, six TA women reveal why they are prepared to put their lives on the line
in trouble spots around the world.

Major Karen Dear

“I used to be immensely shy. I wasn’t always going to pursue a medical career
and I originally grew up wanting to be a pilot, which didn’t happen.

I have a passion for the outdoor life and the opportunities that the TA
offered really attracted me.

In the NHS we work some really odd hours and have to juggle our lives.

But I always like to try new things and that was one of the reasons why I
joined the TA.

I was in Iraq in 2004, and some of the things we saw there were horrific. It
was hard to cope with.

I used to go running after my shift to help cope with some of the things I
saw.

But you come home and you have to deal with it.

It is exhausting physically and mentally. You’ve no time off, and since I’m in
charge of an X-Ray department, everything is on your shoulders.

But you carry on. You have to go to the gym and you have to have a giggle.

My friends think I’m mad for doing it, but that’s the way I am. Being in the
TA and having the life that I have had has opened me up and helped me cope
with my shyness. I’m a much more confident person than I used to be.”

Sgt Amanda Wheeler

MARKET research executive Amanda, 39, is from Pembrokeshire. She says:

L/Cpl Nichola Harris

“It was moving from the Falklands to the UK that prompted me to join the TA.

I grew up with RAF jets flying overhead and the military all around me, so the
TA appeared to be like a home from home.

I work as a chef feeding hundreds of men from the 7RIFLES. The TA means I get
the best of both worlds out of my life.

The pressures for me are different in both civilian and military life. Of
course there are many pressures with my work as a civilian, and I think many
of the people I work with are curious what I do on places like Salisbury
Plain when I’m away for days on end during long, rainy exercises.

They certainly don’t have the pressures of cooking for 300 people at a time.
Fortunately, I love the pressure and the outside life.

An army has to march on its stomach, which is why my role in the TA is so
important.

If I’d have wanted to be a full-time soldier then I would have joined the
Regulars, but this dual life suits me fine.”

Interested in joining the TA? Find out more at army.mod.uk/jobs
or by calling 0845 600 8080.